Film

Restored Masterpieces of Jean Gabin

Neil McDonald

For those of us whose schoolboy French is not up to the sophisticated dialogue of the best French movies without subtitles, some of the new restorations are a godsend. Not only do they have sparkling Blu-ray images, but with the press of a button you can call up sous-titres Anglais; and very good titles they are too. The only problem is that what seem to be very fine discussions by eminent film scholars in the special features or “supplements” are not titled—which is very frustrating. Still we have the films, and it is clear from postings online that enthusiasts from…